The first Turkic imperial confederation to dominate Inner Asia, supplanting the Rouran Khaganate and establishing the political and cultural template for all later Turkic peoples.
Split into the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates in 581 CE following a succession crisis and civil war upon the death of Taspar Qaghan, with the Eastern Turkic Khaganate subsequently conquered by the Tang dynasty in 630 CE and the Western in 657 CE.
The most comprehensive English synthesis of early Turkic steppe empires and their successors.
Narrates the rise of the first Turkic (Göktürk) khaganate over Inner Asia after the Rouran, the imperial template for all later Turkic peoples.